THE DIFFERENCE
I want to talk a little bit this morning about the good thief on the cross. I know I have written a couple of articles in which I have mentioned about the thief on the cross, but I do not remember if I have written anything about the difference between what the good thief on the cross did that saved him but may not save us because of our defiant nature. This difference was so great that Jesus decided to take the good thief to heaven and allow Satan to take us with him to hell. And it has nothing to do with what the thief had done in his past, but it has a lot to do with what we are doing now. But first I want to give you this text, and I want you to read this text closely until you fully understand what Jesus said here. Read a couple more times if you are still confused. Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” Matthew 7:21-23.
"The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Matthew 13:41-43.
Readers, do you know why Jesus rejected these men/women of great faith? They have faith as the apostle Paul said, but they have no work as the apostle James said. They, these men/women of great faith, were practicing lawlessness. They were not doing the will of Jesus’ Father. They were violating God's laws. What does it tell you? It tells me that if we are violating God’s commandments we will go straight to hell! There is no grace that we will get from Jesus, none! And there is no grace that we will get from Paul either, none! The only grace that we will get is that God will cast us into the furnace of fire.
Okay, now back to the thief on the cross. Please read carefully what I will write next. Why? Because they don't come from my head.
Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." Luke 23:39-43. This second thief may have a long criminal record in the Book of Life, but when he was hanging and dying on the cross he was not living in sin. He was not practicing lawlessness. God had fully erased his old record of crime. He called Jesus Lord. He repented and accepted Jesus as his Savior. And Jesus happily accepted him into the kingdom of heaven. I hope my readers can benefit from reading this short article. God bless.
"The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Matthew 13:41-43.
Readers, do you know why Jesus rejected these men/women of great faith? They have faith as the apostle Paul said, but they have no work as the apostle James said. They, these men/women of great faith, were practicing lawlessness. They were not doing the will of Jesus’ Father. They were violating God's laws. What does it tell you? It tells me that if we are violating God’s commandments we will go straight to hell! There is no grace that we will get from Jesus, none! And there is no grace that we will get from Paul either, none! The only grace that we will get is that God will cast us into the furnace of fire.
Okay, now back to the thief on the cross. Please read carefully what I will write next. Why? Because they don't come from my head.
Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us. But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." Luke 23:39-43. This second thief may have a long criminal record in the Book of Life, but when he was hanging and dying on the cross he was not living in sin. He was not practicing lawlessness. God had fully erased his old record of crime. He called Jesus Lord. He repented and accepted Jesus as his Savior. And Jesus happily accepted him into the kingdom of heaven. I hope my readers can benefit from reading this short article. God bless.
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